The Keyboard Theory/See's Quest Fic
by The Blue Seeress
Summary: ok, the g-boys and i get dragged into a mystical quest. how? read the prologue. it explains the keyboard theory as proposed by...um...me. r for language and shounen-ai limes. parts 2 and 3 (chapters 3 and 4) now up.
1. Prologue: The Keyboard Theory

Most fanfic authors write with normal keyboards.  
  
_"Have you guys been feeling the signs too?"_   
  
The fics they write do not affect the characters in any way, and most of the time, they do not notice that it was written.   
  
_"Yeah, I think an author with a *keyboard* is writing another fic."_   
  
However, some authors write with *keyboards*. Fics written with *keyboards* cause the characters involved to have simultaneous, life-like dreams in which they are in the fic when it's published. The characters can also sometimes feel when one is about to go up.   
  
_"Any clue who it is?" "It feels like it's coming from See's"_   
  
Authors with *keyboards* can write two kinds of fics: open and controlled.   
  
_"Are you sure? She usually comes and asks us before she posts it."_   
  
Controlled fics are when the author controlls every aspect of the fic: the plot, the dialogue, and the action, and the characters are powerless to do anything against the script.   
  
_"Maybe she's busy." "Yeah, I'm sure she'll come by before she posts it."_   
  
Open fics are kind of like a program, where the descriptions the author writes are the code, and the dialogue is the result.   
  
_"I just hope she picks a less life-threatening plot. Remember the last time someone wrote with a *keyboard*?" "Don't remind me."_   
  
Authors with *keyboards* should keep careful watch over them. Because if someone gets a hold of your *keyboard* and puts you in a fic with it, the board won't catch the fact that you're in a humiliating and/or dangerous fic. And when that happens, God help us. 


	2. The Unwilling and the Ignorant

AN: Onnako is my little sister. For those of you who have read "Onnako and the Way of the Soldier" (which is finally complete, by the way) this happens before that, so Duo and Quater are not together (yet). Did you read the prolougue? WHY THE FUCK NOT!? Come back after you've read it.   
  
  
  
  
  
Ok, so you've read it. Then you're semi-prepared. Be afraid.   
  
Part I: The Unwilling and the Ignorant   
  
The sun rises slowly over a meadow bordering on a forest. The gradually increasing light reveals a six person camp, unfortunately without the benefit of tents. The fire ring has long since burned out, because no sentries had been posted to keep it going. The group is protected by powers greater than sentries. They're protected with *keyboard* power.   
  
The sleeping figures are an oddly varied group. In five sleeping bags on the ground, there are five young men.   
  
The first has slightly messy chocolate brown hair, and is sleeping on his stomach, an old reflex, since the back is not as soft as the stomach, and is therefore less easy to attack. That's our perfect soldier for you.   
  
The second sleeping bag is nearly inseperable from a huge, tangled mat of hair belonging to Duo. This guy is sleeping with no regard to strategy, with his arms stretched in crazy angle, one leg outside his sleeping bag, and his mouth wide open and snoring slightly.   
  
The third sleeping bag is occupied by Trowa, who's face is completely hidden by his long bangs, and is sleeping on his side with his arms folded across his chest.   
  
Quatre is rather adorably curled up near the top of his bag, his platinum blond hair barely showing above the top.   
  
And finally, we come to Wufei, whose black hair is immaculately slicked down even though he's asleep, and is dosing/meditating with his body held rigidly straight and his arms stiffly at his sides.   
  
Seperated slightly from the rest of the group, a rather short person is curled up among the branches of a nearby tree the grows beside a calm pool. Her longish, chestnut brown hair is loose, and hopelessly snarled from a night spent up a tree. The sun continues to creep over them, until it pierces the leaves of the tree she is sleeping in. As the light hits her eyelids, she stirs and wakes up. Stretching, she gradually becomes aware of her surroundings. The morning silence is broken by her loud yell of: "What the FUUUUUUCK!!" She promptly loses her balance and falls into the waiting pool.   
  
The sleeping people on the ground are awakened by this. Ah, the best part of waking up, listening to a very irate person swearing at the top of her voice while struggling to swim in her clothes. They cautiously approach the pool.   
  
"See?" Quatre inquires, "Is that really you?"   
  
"No Quatre, you're hallucinating. Of course it's me" the one-and-only (and very damp and angry) Blue Seeress replies. "Couldn't give me a hand, could you?" she asked, struggling to climb up the steep bank of the pool.   
  
Five pairs of arms instantly help her out of her watery predicament. When finally standing on dry land, she began to wring out her hair and push her drippping bangs out of her eyes. "Well," she commented finally, "Good to see you guys again."   
  
"Looks like this fic got away from ya, See," Duo comments with a wicked grin, "Or were you striving for more personal comedy?"   
  
"Dammit, Duo, I didn't put that in," See replies, still looking quite pissed off, "Someone's screwing with my computer."   
  
"Someone's been eating my porridge too, and they ate it all up!" Duo quips in a high voice.   
  
"Shut up Maxwell," Wufei snapped, "If this crazy onna isn't writing it, but it's by her *keyboard*, we're all in trouble."   
  
"Who is writing this, See?" inquired Trowa, using up his word count for the day to prevent general war from breaking out.   
  
See responded by speculating on the ancestry, habits, probable descendants and horrible fates she would visit on the idiot who screwed with her computer once she got at him, using colorful adjectives in several languages. All five guys stare at her, stunned.   
  
"What?" she snapped irratably, "You've all heard me swear before."   
  
"I take it you have no clue?" Heero finally said.   
  
"No. Hang on, I'll explain when I'm dry." See walked towards the tree where she had been sleeping. After regarding the branches for a moment, she jumped up, flipped over, and landed on the lowest branch, quite a feat for someone only slighty over five feet tall. When she reached the the spot where she had been sleeping, she pulled a bag out of the hollow spot. "You guys might want to go through your bags." she called down.   
  
"We have bags?" Duo called back.   
  
"Didn't I just say that? You should anyway." See finally encountered the item she sought. "All right! It's still here." She jumped down to the ground, landing gracefully on the balls of her feet. In her hand is a white gem. Quatre eyed it curiously.   
  
"Is that a diamond?" he inquired.   
  
See looked at it. "Well...it used to be. I did some things to it, though, so it's not quite the same."   
  
"It's a tirsuj stone, isn't it?" Trowa commented from his bag.   
  
"Close, xioe. Tirsuj is more silvery and darker." See looked at Trowa curiously. "I didn't know you knew about Old High, Tro."   
  
"Most of the details where in that sketchbook you let me look through once."   
  
"Oh." See tossed the stone up in the air. She pointed at it and shouted "AHK HOFT XIOE!"   
  
Suddenly, the gem began to glow, and it's glow enveloped See completely. After a few seconds, it slowly faded, revealing that she was completely dry.   
  
Everyone stared at her. She camly flipped back into the tree, put the stone away, and pulled out a hairbrush. "What?" she asked, beginning to brush her hair.   
  
"Warn us next time, onna!" Wufei shouted furiously. See regarded him calmly, and jumped out of the tree again.   
  
The others, sensing a confrontation, immeadiately busied themselves with their bags.   
  
See walked over to Wufei, measured him with a glance, drew back and bitch slapped him across the face with her hairbrush without even blinking or changing expression.   
  
Wufei, however, did change expression, and fell to the ground from the force of the smack. "What the hell was that for?" he shouted furiously and See's retreating back.   
  
"I don't like your attitude. And don't call me onna."   
  
"Why you..." Wufei lunged at See, the rest of his comment incoherant.   
  
He suddenly found himself restrained by four pairs of arms and forced to his knees. See glanced back at him, and started back again.   
  
"Wufei, I'm going to use those whenever necessary, and I won't always be able to warn you," she explained, kneeling down so she was at his eye level, "So just try to get used to it and let go, please? We might be working together for a bit, it'll be easier if we get along."   
  
Wufei nodded. "I guess I could try and control my temper."   
  
"I'd apreaciate it." The guys released Wufei. "Oh Wufei, one more thing."   
  
"Hn?"   
  
"I have a name. It's not difficult to pronounce."   
  
"Alright, See."   
  
"Now that you're dry, could you PLEASE explain what's going on?" Duo asked.   
  
"I can explain what I understand, and a few things that I'm guessing." See replied, seating herself on the grass. The guys followed the suit. "I started out writing this. I thought a mystical quest fic would be kinda cool, and of course I wanted in on the action. So I wrote up the beginnings of a open fic. You know, equipment lists, character traits, the works."   
  
The guys stared at her in confusion.   
  
"It's kind of like a rpg, okay? You have characters, and scenarios, but you can control what your character does." Nods from the guys. "Anyway, I was working on this, let me see, it'd have to be the night before last, but I got tired and I had school. So I stopped writing and didn't quite finish equipping us."   
  
Duo shook his head. "You're normal impaired, you know that, See?"   
  
See grinned at him. "You're a fine one to talk, Shinigami." He grinned back. "Anyway, the point of this is that after I went to bed that night, I haven't worked on that fic at all. And yet, somehow we're all here. I don't know who did it, it could be anyone who is patient enough to get at my computer. And I don't know what they want."   
  
Heero, who had been rumaging through his bag as See explained, suddenly looked up. "See, why are there no guns in my bag?"   
  
See blinked. "What the hell? I put two M-16's in there."   
  
"They're not there now." Heero was scowling.   
  
"Son of a bitch." See muttured in the general direction of the person who put them there. "Quatre, could you go make sure the other weapons are in the bag by the food?"   
  
Quatre oblingingly got up, looked in the bag, and fainted dead away.   
  
"Well. I guess they're there." Duo commented, getting up to revive Quatre. He peeked in the bag on his way by. He jumped back with a startled exclamation. "Expecting a lot of attacks, are we?" he asked slowly.   
  
"Don't worry, I put in the anti-annihilate code in first."   
  
"The anti-WHAT?!?" All five guys half-screamed in unison.   
  
See blinked. "It works it out so if you die during the course of the fic, you just wake up where ever you were when the fic went into effect."   
  
All of them stared at her in shock. "Are you saying," Duo asked in a rather sick voice, "That anytime anyone wants to kill someone all they have to do is stick them in a fic they written with a *keyboard* and leave that code out?"   
  
"It's not that easy. First of all, getting a *keyboard* is damn hard and very expensive. That's why I don't have a car. Second, that code is only necessary on open fics, it's automatic with closed fics. Third, fics without the code don't go through unless it's with a very good reason. There's a board to regulate all this."   
  
"Define 'good reason'." Trowa said unexpectedly.   
  
"To be honest, I'm not sure," See confessed, "I've never heard of it happening. You'd need a lot of reasources and a iron clad case for the board, though."   
  
"But we don't know who did this or why." Trowa continued. Quatre gave him a funny look, Trowa almost never spoke that much. "It could be that the entire point of this is to kill you, and this person has those resources."   
  
"You're being paranoid, Trowa. One of my best friends is one the board, she'd keep it from going through."   
  
A nasty possibility occured to Heero. "So why did she let someone else post something from your *keyboard*?"   
  
To be Continued...Review.... 


	3. Niklaren

Lots of mystical and supernatural from here on out. I suggest you stop reading if you have problems with this.   
  
Part II: Niklaren   
  
See started a fire in the pit Heero and Duo had dug out while Quatre rumaged through the food bags for breakfast. Wufei was sitting cross legged under the tree, meditating. Trowa was helping See keep the fire going with semi-damp wood, while Duo and Heero discussed who should carry which weapons.   
  
"Let Wufei carry the katana, he has more experince with swords." Duo commented, eying the blade uneasily. He preffered guns.   
  
"Good point. Can you throw knives?" Heero responded.   
  
"Not as well as Trowa or See, but I get along."   
  
"Good, she included a whole bunch of throwing knives."   
  
"And explosives. I'll take most of them, I use those the most."   
  
"See, what kind of bread is this?" Quatre called from the supply bags.   
  
"Oran. It's made with wheat flour and honey."   
  
Duo looked up hungrily. "Do you have butter too?"   
  
"No, of course not. It doesn't keep very well."   
  
"I can't get this out of it's sheath, See." Heero called, struggling with one off the knives.   
  
"Give it to me." Heero passed the five inch hilt to her hand. She pressed the catch concealed on the sheath, and it sprang into her hand.   
  
"Holy shit, what the hell is THAT?!" Heero shouted.   
  
It had a blade divided into two flat prongs, each triangular and curved inwards and ending in a wicked barbed point. The outer right edge was razor sharp, and the outer edge of the left prong was serrated. From hilt to tip, it was about a foot long. Heero and Duo stared at it like it was a snake.   
  
See smiled at it. "It's an assasin's weapon, a diosiri. The left edge is poisoned and the right one is hell of sharp."   
  
"Why is the poisoned edge serrated?" Trowa asked curiously.   
  
"Cuts made with a serrated blade close more quickly, so the poison is less easy to remove."   
  
Duo shuddered. "That is one EVIL weapon."   
  
"All assasin's weapons are, they use coward's tools to give them an edge over the honorable." Wufei commented, having finished his meditation. "I forgot you were an assasin, See."   
  
See only grinned, but Trowa bristled. "The assasin's trade may be illegal, but it's as honorable as the ones who hire them!"   
  
"Do you have a new hobby, Tro?" Quatre asked, laughing, as he brought the cooking gear over to the fire ring, "I haven't heard you say anything so vehement before, except about the circus."   
  
"You'd make a better assasin if you cut your bangs to a more non-descript length, you know." Duo added.   
  
Trowa shook his head. "I'm not an assasin. But I admire them."   
  
"It's fun, you should try it sometime," See suggested, "The only problems are getting assignments and not being arrested."   
  
Everyone laughed knowingly. Most of the trades they followed after the war were less than legal.   
  
"Alright I think that's got it," See suddenly commented, eying the fire, "I should be able to cook on it now."   
  
"Damn wet wood delaying my breakfast," Duo grumbled.   
  
"You know, a thought just hit me," Quatre said rather diffidently, "Does anyone know what we're supposed to do here?" Just about everyone shook there head. "Not even you, See?"   
  
"Keep in mind I got as far as the character list on this." See commented, stirring up some oatmeal.   
  
"Ah. True."   
  
Heero shrugged. "I suggest we wait here until someone comes and gives us our mission."   
  
"We should go to the nearest village and at least be able to wait for them in an inn." Wufei put in.   
  
"We could do that," See comented, passing around the oatmeal and toast, "If we knew where the village is."   
  
Wufei looked up in consternation. "You mean..."   
  
"I have no bloody clue were we are, aside from the obvious." See gestured around.   
  
"I don't suppose this looks familiar to anyone?" Trowa asked.   
  
The question was ignored as a dense cloud suddenly appeared over the pool and floated towards them.   
  
"Now that's something you don't see everyday." Duo commented, staring nervously at the mobile bit of fog. It drifted towards the group, settled a few feet away, and coalased into the form of a person with a monks cowl.   
  
"A greeting to you all in the name of my master." it intoned.   
  
"What, just one?"   
  
"Shut up, Duo." See mutterred.   
  
"You are here to do my masters bidding," the figure admonished, "Such insolence is unseamly."   
  
"Oh yeah?" Duo growled, really angry now, "Well take this!" He flung a dagger at the cowled figure. It passed through the figure and imbedded itself in the tree behind it.   
  
"The FUCK?" Wufei shouted incrediously.   
  
"I am not here," the figure said smugly, "Your mortal weapons will not harm me. I suggest you settle down and accept my message."   
  
"Like hell..." Wufei muttured rebelliously, but was silenced by a LOOK from See.   
  
"Start talking, then," she suggested with icy rage.   
  
"My master has set you here so that you might recover an item from a wizard here."   
  
"Why should we?" Heero snapped.   
  
"Because if you do not, you will remain here indefinitely." The figure pulled out a map from inside his sleeve. "You will find the wizard here," he indicated the map, "He will not make it easy for you, nor will he give up the item for free."   
  
"That's nice to know." See was in a fury now. "Now what exactly are we fetching here, kisama?" she spat.   
  
"A staff in this likeness." The figure spread his hands, causing an image of a staff to appear there. "You may keep the map, but you are now on your own." Fog coalased arround the figure, and it disapeared.   
  
See slammed her fist into the tree. "Najuri sadistic bastard son of a BITCH!" she swore loudly.   
  
"What's wrong, See?" Trowa asked.   
  
"That lousy umbiron solifa binchi piece of sebat is GOING TO DIE!"   
  
"Who was he? And why are you so mad at him?"   
  
"Not the messenger, that was just one of the zombies. I should have KNOWN, dammit. I'm going to slaughter him!" She paused momentarily. "Slowly," she added, "And with great attention to detail."   
  
"What the fuck is going on?" Duo demanded exasperatedly, "You're swearing isn't answering anything."   
  
"We were sent here by Niklaren, an old chum of mine." Her face held more sadness and undefinable emotion than was usually possible. "At least, we were friends, until his sister was killed."   
  
Quatre put his arm around her compassionately. "You don't have to explain now if you don't want to."   
  
See shrugged off his arm. "No, you need to understand. His sister was condemned and executed for illegal practice of power."   
  
"Huh?" Duo looked moderately perplexed.   
  
"She did nasty things with the souls and bodies of dead people," See sighed, "And I was the one who brought her to justice. Niklaren never forgave me for that, they were unreasonably close."   
  
"Even though..." Heero started.   
  
"Yeah. It never seemed to enter his thinking. Anyway, they imprisoned her soul in a staff and shipped it to another demension so he couldn't ressurect her. We appear to be in that demension."   
  
"How did you get involved with this in the first place?" Wufei asked, perplexed, "I mean, how are you involved with necromancers and all that other stuff?"   
  
"Did you think the title 'the Blue Seeress' was just an affectation?" See smiled grimly. "I belong to that guild. I was in it before I moved to the complex we all live in."   
  
"Stop me if I'm making a mistake," Duo started, "But are you implying that Niklaren sent us here to recover his sister's soul?"   
  
"Yeah, that's about it."   
  
Duo looked horrified. "And this kid tortured dead people?"   
  
"And the living by using dead people. Be very glad you never saw any of it."   
  
Heero regarded her. "So what your saying is that we should avoid bringing back her soul."   
  
"If we can do that and still get back," Trowa stated, "Then yes."   
  
See shook her head. "We have to get back within a month."   
  
Everyone stared at her. Then, almost in unison, "Why?"   
  
"If you stay in a different dimension from your own for more than a month the first time, you die."   
  
"That's...not good."   
  
"No shit."   
  
To Be Continued...   
  
Ok, that takes care of all the background info. The action should commence in the next chapter.   
  
-TBS 


	4. Damn Deer

Part III: Damn Deer   
  
"We've been walking for hours! Isn't time for a break?"   
  
"Quiet, baka, the nearest village is still 30 miles away."   
  
"Why don't we have cars?"   
  
"The road's to narrow."   
  
"Fine, motorcycles."   
  
"Damned if I know."   
  
See sighed exasperatedly. "Both of you, look around," she scolded Duo and Wufei, "Do you see any signs that there ARE motorcycles and cars and whatnot? Horses might be a little more realistic."   
  
"And a lot more uncomfortable," Duo grumbled.   
  
"Weakling," Wufei sneered.   
  
Duo glared at him. "Have you ever ridden a horse?"   
  
"Why should I bother with such an anacronistic activity?"   
  
"Then you don't know." Duo looked satisfied. "Now I'll tell you; riding a horse for any ammount of time hurts like hell. Your thighs chafe and if you sit wrong you'll go sterile."   
  
Wufei's eyes widened. "It can't be THAT bad."   
  
"It is," Trowa spoke up, "We had a horse performance in the circus for a while, but then we discontinued it when the only one who knew how to ride one quit."   
  
"They made us ride horses in that school I was in with Relena," Heero reflected, "Wing was a lot smarter."   
  
"An inaminate object?" Wufei asked incredously, "You've got to be joking."   
  
"Was 'Nataku' so inanimate, then?" Heero replied contemptously. Wufei scowled at him.   
  
"Stop!" Quatre shouted suddenly, "We shouldn't be fighting like this!"   
  
Everyone stared at him. "Um...Quat? We weren't fighting." Duo informed him.   
  
"Still, I think we should keep our voices down," Quatre said stubbornly, "There might be bandits around."   
  
"Oh come on. This isn't Robin Hood or anything."   
  
"Quiet, Duo. I hear something." See's ears were, astonishingly enough, twitching. "Weapons out," she suggested tersely, drawing her diosiri in her left hand and a short sword in the other.   
  
Suddenly, something bounded out from the surrounding woods. Everyone suddenly bristled with various types of hardware.   
  
Then they realized it was a deer. They stared at it in consternation, then began to laugh.   
  
"Who wants venision for dinner?" Duo asked, taking careful aim with a throwing knife.   
  
"Good idea. Knock yourself out," said the deer.   
  
A large communal shout of "What the FUCK?" rang out as the deer began to transform.   
  
First its teeth lengthened, protruding from it's lower lip like fangs. The hair on its body became darker, and more shaggy. Its arms and legs thickened, and its hooves gradually turned into claws. What it was, none of the bold travellers could say for sure, because it attacked them before they had time to classify it. It charged at them, making a swipe at Heero and See, who were in front. Both dodged.   
  
"Surround and confuse it!" Heero shouted, "Attack it at different times!"   
  
Trowa took the hint and stabbed it with a throwing knife. The creature roared furiously and swung at him.   
  
Then Wufei stabbed it in the side with his katana. It howled with a suprisingly human cry of pain, and attempted to bite him. Quatre and See stabbed it in the web of muscle beneath both shoulders simultaneuosly before he could do that.   
  
Maddened by pain, fear and rage, the creature tried to swipe at them with his now-useless arms. It screamed/howled/roared in outrage, sounding rather like Wufei in an inarticulate justice rant. Then Duo chucked an explosive at his chest.   
  
When it detonated, there was a gaping, bloody hole were all kinds of useful things like hearts and lungs are usually kept. The creature flucuated between deer and beast, then thrashed around in the form of a man as it died. It made quite a mess.   
  
It was Heero who finally expressed the question in everyone's mind. "What in the hell was that?"   
  
"A thragg." See said quite calmly, wiping off the knife she had used.   
  
"Say what?"   
  
"A thragg. A construct of chaotic material that a person can call into their body to be able to shape shift." See received a number of blank looks, and half-smiled at them. "Welcome to my world."   
  
"This is injustice." Wufei commented.   
  
"Yeah," See sighed, "Look, I'm really sorry you guys can't get out. I've tried..."   
  
"Huh?" Duo asked, "When?"   
  
"While we've been walking."   
  
She received several stares. "That's impossible." Heero finally said.   
  
"It's true," Trowa spoke up, "She can talk to people over long distances silently, and she's been trying."   
  
"How the hell do you know about that!?" See asked in genuiene surprise.   
  
"I can hear you."   
  
"WHAT!!??"   
  
Trowa shifted uncomfortably. "It's not hearing, exactly, it's more..." He trailed off, unable to explain further.   
  
See looked like she was on the verge of a hysterical breakdown. Then she took a deep breath and composed herself. "Later. This isn't the time or place for a metaphysical discussion."   
  
"We should move on before on of those...injustices...comes along," Wufei stated.   
  
"Injustices?" Duo asked, snorting with laughter.   
  
"He's right, we should move on," Heero agreed, although he also appeared amused.   
  
They set off, Wufei muttering a long rant about weak deniers of justice and chaos.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Later that evening, as they shared the first watch, See began to give Trowa a headache, and Trowa was startling her more than she had been in a long time.   
  
"It's like....feeling....your emotions," Trowa fumbled, "I can sense most peoples emotions, but I can't sense yours."   
  
"I'd be surprised if you could." See's sapphire blue eyes were locked on the fire. "My shields are pretty strong."   
  
"But when I can feel them, I know you're talking to someone. I can't hear....is hear the right word?"   
  
"The 'right word' has yet to be invented, Trowa."   
  
"Right. Well, what I'm trying to say is that I don't know what your...uh, hang on....communicating, I guess, but I know how you feel about what you're communicating."   
  
See sighed. "That's what I was afraid of." She looked up at him. "Tro-chan, you're an empath."   
  
The bottom dropped out of Trowa's precarious equilibrium. In fact, he nearly fell off his tree stump. "A WHAT?"   
  
"Keep it down. People are sleeping." See shifted around a little. The rock she was sitting on wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. "You're an empath. If you read that book you know what that is."   
  
"Yeah." Trowa looked numb. "How is that possible?"   
  
"You say that like you actually think I know."   
  
"You're not serious."   
  
"Oh but I am," See said with heavy irony, "And you know the best part? You're a potential danger to the entire group, including yourself."   
  
Trowa's head snapped up. "I...I am?"   
  
See considered. "Well, empathy is one of the more harmless skills. I guess your main problem is that your snooping. It's rude."   
  
Trowa began to giggle hysterically. "It's.....rude!" he choked out, "I have some kind of strange ability and you say it's rude!"   
  
"Trowa, snap out of it." See snapped, wondering if she was going to have to slap him. "You can fix it so your not feeling everyone's emotions. It only takes a little discipline."   
  
"Right." Trowa breathed deeply, trying to calm down. Then something occured to him. "See, why am I talking so much?"   
  
See blinked innocently. "I have no idea what you are reffering to."   
  
"Yes you do," he stated, not fooled by her act, "Out with it, I'd never be able to say all this at home."   
  
"Just a little keyboard modification. It won't hurt you."   
  
"What. Did. You. Do?"   
  
See sighed reproachfully. "Alright alright. I inserted a little code in the header of the fic to loosen up everyone's inhibitions, mine included. It makes it easier for us to work together."   
  
"I'll bet that's why I suddenly developed empathy. How long willl it last?"   
  
"You know, I never thought of that. Good deduction." See pondered for a second. "It depends. If you fight it in this, then it won't last beyond the fic because it won't be able to take hold in your sub-conscious. But if you decide you like it and get used to it, it should stay."   
  
"Hmm..." Emerald eyes joined sapphire in staring into the fire. He then spoke up in complete non-sequiter. "This is relaxing. Is that why you do it all the time?"   
  
"Hmm?"   
  
"Stare into the fire."   
  
"Yeah." See glanced up at the sky. "Our watch is over. Go to sleep, I'll wake up Quatre and Duo."   
  
"All right. Sleep well."   
  
"Et tu, Trowa."   
  
See picked her way among the sleeping forms about the fire until she reached Duo's sleeping bag. She shook him lightly.   
  
"Wakey wakey," she murmured softly. Duo snored on. See muttured a choice oath or three and shook him harder. "Wake up Duo," she said a little louder.   
  
The braided baka continued to reside in dream land.   
  
See swore again. Then had a belated inspiration. "Dammit Duo wake up!" she muttured, pulling his braid.   
  
"Ouch." Duo's eyes snapped open. "I was hoping to get a bribe, not a hair pulling."   
  
"You were awake already."   
  
"Yep."   
  
"I ought to kill you, baka." Duo grinned impudently at her. "But I don't want to take your turn at watch."   
  
"Always a reason to keep me alive."   
  
"Lucky you. I'll let you wake up Quatre," she added, winking. She went to her sleeping bag and curled up in it.   
  
Duo stared after her. "Son of a gun. She knows." He crossed over and looked at his little blonde tenshi. In the firelight he seemed almost surreal, and asleep he looked like the little cherub of a white arab that was See's favorite nickname for him. He bent down, hardly daring to breathe, and put his hand on Quatre shoulder.   
  
"Quatre," he whispered, shaking his shoulder gently, "It's our watch."   
  
"Hm?" Quatre stirred sleepily and opened his eyes slowly to see Duo bending over him with a tender smile on his face. For a second his heart leaped, thinking all his dreams had come true, and then Duo's last words registered on him. He sighed and stretched, trying to hide his disapointment that Duo wasn't there for what he thought he was.   
  
"Good morning, or whatever," Duo said in a cheerful, quiet voice, "Time to make sure no more demons attack the camp while we sleep."   
  
"Oh but fighting them off is soooo much fun." Quatre chuckled lightly.   
  
Pretend shock registered on Duo's face. "Quatre Rebarba Winner, were you actually being sarcastic? I think I'll faint," he said laughing. Quatre laughed too, and what soldies have called for years "the dog watch" began with jokes and quiet good humor.   
  
And, not nearly far enough away to please the barely drowsing See, and to a lesser extent Trowa, something watched them.   
  
To Be Continued....   
  
I had fun with this chapter, hope you guys liked it too. By the by, when the deer said "Knock yourself out," he didn't mean for Duo to REALLY knock himself (not that it wouldn't be a good idea...;P), it's an expression. It means "have fun." Anyway, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review.   
  
TBS 


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